In that post we noted how the German Foreign Minister has variously described NATO’s actions in deploying four battlegroups on Russia’s very doorstep as “sabre rattling” and “war mongering.”

Since then former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, architect of the peaceful transition of his country from Communist bloc to Russian Federation, has described NATO’s actions thus:

They only talk about defence, but actually they are preparing for offensive operations.

Canadians elected the Justin Trudeau Liberals to forge a new relationship with Russia and to re-engage in UN peacekeeping, not to waste Canadian troops and equipment on a provocative NATO deployment, to which most European members of NATO are apparently contributing little.

Chris Westdal, the only Canadian Ambassador to have served as Head of Mission in both Russia and Ukraine, believes Canada’s Defence Minister understands the urgent need for diplomatic as well as military steps.

Defence Minister Sajjan gets the point. He says the work underway “behind the scenes” to re-establish a NATO dialogue with Russia “really is the most critical piece … We need to make sure the tensions are reduced because it doesn’t help anybody.”

However, Westdal also points out that, whatever NATO is doing multilaterally, there is precious little evidence of Canadian diplomatic efforts at the bilateral level:

Six months into his mandate, notably, Global Affairs Minister Stephane Dion has yet to meet with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.

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The Russian [nuclear] modernization program was spurred by the US withdrawal, under President George W. Bush in 2002, from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which Moscow had for four decades regarded as a central pillar of strategic stability. Moscow’s subsequent failure to reach a new agreement with the United States on missile defenses, and the collapse […]